Month: May 2006

I hate it when suddenly, through a flurry of point and clicks, I come across a post on another blog that sounds like me, smells like me and most of the time, is me. It’s like someone has been peeking through my windows at night.

I’ll be watching the show live which is due to begin 10 minutes from now. Until then, here’s what we know so far.

— A Capitol Police report says Congressman Patrick Kennedy was ticketed for three charges in connection with an early morning car crash. The report says Kennedy drove his car into a security barrier just before 3 a-m yesterday. It notes the congressman had red, watery eyes, slurred speech and unsteady balance.

— Kennedy says he did not drink. He says he took two prescription drugs — one for nausea and one for sleep.

— The congressman was cited for failure to stay in the right lane, traveling at “unreasonable speed” and failure to ”give full time and attention” to operating his vehicle.

— A police union official says officers were ordered to take Kennedy home, and no field sobriety tests were done. That’s sparked criticism that the lawmaker, who is also Senator Edward Kennedy’s son, was given preferential treatment. The congressman denies that.

2:54 EDT: Cameras are on and media types have filled the room. Audio is up and I can hear all the chit-chat.

3:02 EDT: Headline on Drudgereport says Kennedy will announce that he is entering rehab.

3:04 EDT: Rep. Patrick Kennedy is at the podium. 

3:05 EDT: Kennedy checked himself into the Mayo clinic over the past Christmas holiday for prescription drug addiction. He claims that the events of Wednesday evening concerned him deeply. He has little to know recollection of the events.

3:06 EDT: Kennedy will check into the Mayo clinic today and resume treatment for prescription drug addiction.

3:07 EDT: Kennedy leaves the podium without taking questions from the assembled media.

Key statements:

“Of course, in every recovery, each day has its ups and downs, but I have been strong, focused and productive since my return.”

“I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions,” Kennedy said. “That’s not how I want to live my life. And that’s not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island.”

Full text | Video

Sen. Edward Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy’s father, released the following statement:

I love Patrick very much and am very proud of him. All of us in the family admire his courage in speaking publicly about very personal issues and fully support his decision to seek treatment. He has taken full responsibility for events that occurred Wednesday evening, and he will continue to cooperate fully in any investigation.

I have the rare and special honor of being able to serve with my son in the Congress, and I have enormous respect for the work Patrick has done. The people of the 1st District of Rhode Island have a tireless champion for the issues they care about, and today I hope they join me in feeling pride and respect for a courageous man who has admitted to a problem and taken bold action to correct it.

Here’s the AP story on Kennedy. Here’s how the New York Times recounts his announcement. More from MSNBC.

We’ve heard a number of explanations of what happened Wednesday night, from police who said Kennedy appeared intoxicated, from Kennedy who stated that he consumed no alcohol whatsoever, then being told that he unintentionally mixed prescription drugs. Just a few hours ago further information came from employees of a local bar who reported seeing Kennedy drinking there, and some have said that CBS News had obtained Kennedy’s bar tab. In his presser, Kennedy revised his recollection to say that he in fact had no recollection of what happened.

Sounds to me like a classic blackout experience, and as such, Kennedy’s prior statements have to be thrown out. He’s been telling a lie since the incident first became public. It’s what alcoholics and drug addicts do.

What concerns me is the action of the Capitol Police, the appearance of preferential treatment, and a coverup to keep the whole thing quiet. It’s clear that Kennedy didn’t intend to admit to anything earlier today, and his handlers apparently made every attempt to shut the story down. Once the story began to unravel though, Kennedy had no choice but to come clean. And now that he’s announced his desire to seek help, it’s likely the remaining questions will go unanswered.

MORE: Patrick Kennedy Should Resign

Bush will announce the personnel change from the Oval Office minutes from now.

MORE, via the AP.

STILL MORE: Allah wraps up the days events quite nicely. And this just in: CBS News says Goss was forced out.

Heh.

Via AP.

“I was involved in a traffic accident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol,” Kennedy said in a written statement released by his office. “I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident. I will fully cooperate with the Capitol Police in whatever investigation they choose to undertake.”

Heh.

‘Hhhonnnest, I (hiccup) conzuumed abzzzolutelly no (hiccup) ackeehawl. Juss assk poppy Theddah.’

UPDATE: Now, it’s prescription drugs.

UPDATE II: Pat was seen at a local bar drinking hours before the accident.

UPDATE III: Kennedy has scheduled a press conference for 3 PM EDT today (5/5/06)

Previously: Chappaquiddick II

For some families, traditions run deep. 

KENNEDY CAR CRASH COVER-UP?
Thu May 04 2006 17:12:05 ET

Police labor union officials asked acting Chief Christopher McGaffin this afternoon to allow a Capitol Police officer to complete his investigation into an early-morning car crash involving Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of Sen. Ted Kennedy.

ROLL CALL reports: According to a letter sent by Officer Greg Baird, acting chairman of the USCP FOP, the wreck took place at approximately 2:45 a.m. Thursday when Kennedy’s car, operating with its running lights turned off, narrowly missed colliding with a Capitol Police cruiser and smashed into a security barricade at First and C streets Southeast.

“The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering,” Baird’s letter states. Officers approached the driver, who “declared to them he was a Congressman and was late to a vote. The House had adjourned nearly three hours before this incident. It was Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy from Rhode Island.”

Baird wrote that Capitol Police Patrol Division units, who are trained in driving under the influence cases, were not allowed to perform basic field sobriety tests on the Congressman. Instead, two sergeants, who also responded to the accident, proceeded to confer with the Capitol Police watch commander on duty and then “ordered all of the Patrol Division Units to leave the scene and that they were taking over.”

A source tells the DRUDGE REPORT: “It was apparent that the driver was intoxicated (stumbling) and claimed he was in a hurry to make a vote.

“When it became apparent who it was, instead of processing a normal DWI, the watch commander had the Patrol units clear the scene. The commander allowed other building officials drive Kennedy home.”

This morning’s incident comes just over two weeks after Kennedy was involved in a car accident in Rhode Island.

Hmmm, me thinks we’re only getting a small percentage of the story here.

MORE: Kennedy Statement | Hardball (video) | Dan Riehl |

STILL MORE: Now, he blames prescription drugs.

STILL STILL MORE: Police Report |

Others: Roll Call report | The Influence Peddler | Ace | Confederate Yankee | Lawhawk |

Hey, nobody said terrorists are smart people.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, doesn’t exactly look like a terrorist mastermind in a new videotape released by the U.S. military today.

In blooper-type footage from a Zarqawi video released last week, the al Qaeda in Iraq leader is seen fumbling with a machine gun.

U.S. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said the video was found during a series of raids in April on purported terror cell safe houses southwest of Baghdad.

Lynch said Zarqawi decided not to publicize the piece, which shows him decked out in New Balance sneakers. In it, he said, Zarqawi had trouble firing his automatic weapon and needed assistance from an aide, and his associates “do things like grab the hot barrel of the machine gun and burn themselves.”

Don’t count on this video being submitted for the $10,000 grand prize.

I can’t wait for someone to remix the audio for this thing…I’m thinking keystone cop style music would work.

If this bill passes, sex-specific terms like “mom” and “dad” will be removed from school textbooks. Why? Because they’re offensive.

The bill requiring students to learn about the contributions homosexuals have made to society has passed another hurdle on the way to becoming the law of the land in California.

Having already been approved by the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, SB 1437, which would mandate grades 1-12 buy books “accurately” portraying “the sexual diversity of our society,” got the nod yesterday of the Senate Education Committee.

The bill also requires students hear history lessons on “the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America.”

“This bill is the most extreme effort thus far to transform our public schools into institutions of indoctrination that disregard all notions of the traditional family unit,” said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute. “SB 1437 seeks to eliminate all ‘stereotypes’ of the traditional family so that young children are brainwashed into believing that families with moms and dads are irrelevant.”

It’s hard to believe that every day millions of parents in the U.S. relinquish control of the education of their kids to militant, leftist radicals with self-serving, reckless agendas who write legislation like this.

One might wonder how bills and initiatives like this gain any traction at all. I think I know. These things get as far as they do because a clueless electorate votes into power wackos like those who make up Cali’s Senate Education Committee. Then, the same voters pay no attention whatsoever to what these elected officials actually do, unless it involves directly taking money out of their personal checking accounts.

While most of us believe the biggest threat to America is terrorism, I’m convinced that we’re threatened every day by disconnected, ill-informed, selfish men and women who put themselves and their personal agendas ahead of something as important as the education of children brought into this world. And shame on the parents who chose to ignore the threat and succumb for reasons of inconvenience, political correctness, or fear. Our kids are worth more than that. 

I spit out a perfectly good swallow of Starbucks coffee when I read this.

So much for Senate Republicans’ commitment to have Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today.  Instead, Chairman Specter agreed to Democrats’ demands for another hearing on Kavanaugh.  That hearing is supposed to take place next Tuesday, May 9, with a committee vote on Thursday, May 11.

Chairman Specter’s stated reason for agreeing to a second hearing is—get this!—that Senator Schumer said that a hearing could be useful in persuading him to vote for Kavanaugh.  No sooner had Specter said this than Schumer proceeded to label Kavanaugh a “partisan warrior” and attack his fitness to be a judge.  Unless Kavanaugh is lobotomized between now and May 11, there is zero prospect that Schumer will vote for Kavanaugh’s nomination.  Expect instead that he and his fellow Democrats will use the hearing to ask invasive questions Kavanaugh can’t possibly answer and to demand sensitive documents that the White House can’t provide—all of which will then set the stage for demands for further delay.

Although it’s tempting to blame Specter for this delay, a committee staffer tells me that Senators Graham and DeWine—members of the Gang of 14—worked hard to persuade Specter that another hearing would ensure that Democrat members of the Gang of 14 wouldn’t support a filibuster.  We’ll see.  In any event, it’s far from clear that, absent a second hearing, those Democratic senators would have supported a filibuster—and there would have been a lot of value in putting them to the test.

So, let me get this straight. The wishy-washy lukewarm Gang of 14 believe they speak for and largely represent the attitudes and ultimately the votes of the entire Senate, and if they ain’t happy, nobody’s happy. OK, whatever. The problem is, other Senators (like Specter) believe this too, and as a result, they’re willing to compromise, cow-tow and placate the Gang’s power hungry, camera seeking, self serving wishes and desires.

It’s sick.

Like Ed Whelan, I agree that it’s fruitless to believe Chuck Schumer would really vote in favor of Kavanaugh if there was just one more chance to interrogate him. Another hearing won’t matter a wit. The whole thing is nothing more than twisted theatrics.

Senators: worthless and weak.